God is not as we would expect Him to be. As we learn about Him from the Bible, we discover that He is not like us. He doesn’t think like we think, He doesn’t respond to things as we respond, and He doesn’t do things as we would do them.
Long ago, in Isaiah 55:8-9, He said, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:6-9).
This morning, we see the parable of the vineyard in Matthew 20. This again shows how God’s ways are higher than our ways, and how His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
Let me tell you, this is one of the most difficult parables to explain. You will read different preachers giving different meanings for this; most of them are biblical and good ones, and very encouraging. However, what the Lord is actually saying through this parable in that context to the disciples and to us is what I was trying to understand. I did two versions of sermons and later deleted those two because the more I read, the more I realized that was not what the Lord was saying. So what I am going to share today is the understanding I reached in my struggle, as far as I had light, which I believe is what the Lord is saying and is closer to the context.
How the Parable Fits the Context
So, let us first understand how this parable fits the context. Why does the Lord bring this parable now? We have seen a rich man coming to Jesus for eternal life, and the Lord told him to go, sell, give to the poor, and follow Him; the man went away sad. Jesus used this incident to teach the disciples that God doesn’t save men on the basis of what they can “do”—that is, not on the basis of human merit—but rather on the basis of His grace. “With men this [that is, obtaining eternal life] is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).
This set the disciples to thinking. They had done what the rich young ruler did not do. And so, speaking on behalf of the others, Peter said to the Lord, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” (v. 27). The Lord graciously told them: “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life” (vv. 28-29).
Jesus assures them that they didn’t need to fear. He wouldn’t forget their sacrifice for Him. He would faithfully give back to them all that they had given up for Him, manifold. And what’s more, they would have the very thing that the rich young ruler could not earn for himself in his own power—eternal life.
But, very importantly, the Lord, in His great wisdom, balances their understanding and teaches them this parable. Because they have now heard they will sit on twelve thrones and judge, a unique honor given to them, He is teaching them lest any of His followers should think they have attained this status and final eternal life by their own merit and sacrifice and become arrogant and look down their noses at others; or think of themselves as “greatest in the kingdom” (already arguing) because they did more, or sacrificed more, or followed longer. They should never think eternal life is gained by their efforts. He makes the way to eternal life clear to them by a proverb:
“But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (v. 30).
How can the first become last and the last come first? It’s a paradox. And to help explain this remarkable statement, Jesus goes on to tell the parable that’s before us today—the parable of the workers in the vineyard.
The main lesson of the parable the Lord himself teaches: The chapter division is wrong here; 19:30 should be the first verse of 20. It is a proverb: “The first will be last and the last first.” He starts with that, gives a parable to explain that, and then again finishes with the same proverb in verse 16. This very clearly brackets the parable, which indicates to us that the parable is an illustration of this proverb. Now, this is a rather simple proverb.
The Parable and Its Lesson
Let us understand the parable and then the important lesson that it teaches in four headings.
- Landowner hiring workers for his vineyard (1-7)
- Shocking wage payment and grumbling of workers (8-12)
- Landowner’s just answer (13-15)
- Finally, the primary lesson of this parable (vs 16)
Landowner Hiring Workers for His Vineyard (1-7)
It is a very simple story. It is a very practical scene those days, which Jews living an agrarian life would see. Jesus generally uses these normal stories in His parables, and then as He builds them, He brings a radical twist, a punch, an unexpected thing that shocks them, and through that twist, He teaches the lesson. The twist in the story comes at the payment time at the end of the day.
Jesus begins by saying, “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard” (v. 1).
This landowner has a large vineyard. In Palestine, the vineyards were grown on the mountains, on the hillsides, and the slopes. The fertile soil of the hillside would produce wonderful crops of big grapes. Workers had to work on the steep hillside; it was very difficult and required a great amount of effort. Around September, the harvest came, and the rain would come very soon, in just a few days. So, they had to get the harvest in or the grapes could be ruined by the rain, or they would spoil, as it is a perishable crop. Therefore, the landowner would require a large number of workers, more temporary workers than normal ones, so he could harvest everything before the rains.
So, he goes to hire people in the marketplace. This was the marketplace of the city where day laborers would loiter around, waiting to be hired. We see it today; you go to corners with spades and tools and people standing to be hired. The workday was from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM. It was a 12-hour workday. So then, the landowner set out early in the day to gather workers into his vineyard. Jesus tells us that he gathered some in that early morning hour, and that he entered into an agreement with them: “Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard” (v. 2).
A “denarius” was the equivalent of a respected employee’s wage for a day. That was what a Roman soldier made in a day. It was the standard job wage, but these were the lowest class of workers, in the sense that they were unskilled and only employed a day at a time. These laborers lived on these wages daily; no work meant no food. They were very poor. For them, it was a very good wage, and so, that agreement being settled, off they went to work.
As work is going, the owner realizes he needs more workers. As the day progressed to the third hour after sunrise—that is, about 9 am (Vs 3-4): “And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went.”
Notice he didn’t clearly make an agreement about how much he would pay—“whatever is right.” They didn’t debate. They didn’t have a negotiating position. The day was fast going by, and they were losing money every hour. And so, they didn’t say anything about wages. They probably knew him to be a fair man, and they went to work purely in faith on the owner.
Then, as the day progressed further (Verse 5): “Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.” First, 6th hour, around noon 12 pm; he did the same. Then 9th hour, 3 pm, He found some men standing around unemployed, and he put them to work and sent them off into His vineyard.
Again verse 6: “And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’”
Even to the very last hour of the day—the eleventh hour (that is, about an hour before sundown at 6 pm)—we’re told, He sent them just for 1 hour’s work. For them to still be standing around in the marketplace near the end of the day suggests that they were in desperate need of work. No one had hired them up to that point; and it looked as if they would have to go home to their families with nothing to show for the day—nothing to bring home for food and necessities. It would have been perfectly understandable if, at that point of the day, they had simply gone home in despair. But they stayed, still hoping for work. Even if they were only paid for one hour’s worth of work, it would have been better than nothing. So he also sends them. So we see how the landowner hires workers for his vineyard.
Shocking Wage Payment and Grumbling of Workers (8-12)
All through the day, he’s been sending people into this vineyard with only the pledge that he would do what was right. At the end of the day, verse 8 says, “Evening came,”—and that would be at the 6:00 PM time—”when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward [or ‘foreman’], ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first'” (v. 8).
But this is where the surprise comes in. The punch line comes in. The landowner deliberately commanded that the workers be paid in the reverse order from what would have ordinarily been expected—that is, “beginning with the last to the first.” This is unusual but not unheard of. World policy is first come, first served.
Verse 9: “And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius.” This must have been a joyful shock to them. What mercy, what graciousness, what kindness, what generosity to receive a denarius! Think of the joy of those who came at 5 pm and received a full day’s wage for 1 hour of work. Wow. They should have gone without any money for the day.
Verse 10: “But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius.”
First, those hired at 6 am see that these last workers, working 1 hour, get 1 denarius. Their imagination was elevated, cherishing secretly: “If they get 1 denarius, we worked 12 hours, so we are going to get 12 days’ wages, 12 denarii.” They were already planning what today’s special food, clothes, and things would be, so they got pretty excited about it. They come and ask the manager to quickly give them the wages. “Yes… we came at 6 am… again and again… we worked 12 hours today.” But they were given 1 denarius. Wow… what a disappointment… it is like most of our annual appraisals’ disappointment.
I suspect it was quite a picture—those last workers, holding their denarii with amazed looks on their faces, standing next to those tired, sweaty, first workers with angry looks on their faces. Maybe sometimes in upset, they would have thrown the denarius down, saying, “You only keep it,” because in verse 14 the owner says, “Take what is yours and go”; they might have even refused at first to receive it.
Verse 11: “And when they had received it, they complained/grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’”
They grumbled, “ungrun-gru-gru”—complaining. “We’ve been here with our parched lips and our sun-beaten bodies, and we’ve been going 12 hours. These people come; they work 1 hour in the cooler twilight.” It seems absolutely insignificant compared to 12 hot, sweaty hours in the scorching, blazing September sun of Israel. “How can they get what we get?” Does this seem like just anger? We all feel that way; if someone does that to us, we will be angry like this.
Landowner’s Just Answer (13-15)
Verse 13: “But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong.'”
The reply is marvelous. “Friend”… a soft answer turns away wrath. They are burning with anger, but he doesn’t say, “coolie dogs,” he says, “friend.” “I didn’t do any wrong…”
First, based on the agreement: “What is our agreement? Did you not agree with me for a denarius?” So 14: “Take what is yours and go your way.” The reply is marvelous. “Did you not agree with me for a denarius?” “Was I faithful to what I pledged?”
Next, based on ownership. “I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?”
On the basis of ownership: “Can I do what I want with what is mine?”
On the basis of generosity: “Can I be gracious to whom I want to be gracious?”
“I have not done unjustly.” The only issue was an evil heart of competition here. The only issue was jealousy. Was this illegal, was it unjust, was it unfair? He had every right to do it because what he gave them belonged to him. “Are we to assume that his compassion and kindness to others somehow is wrong toward you?” That’s the question. No, it’s just that you’re jealous, you’re jealous. See the marvelous story: we understand the anger of the workers, but at the same time, we understand the owner is also right.
So we have this parable. Now what is the lesson? Oh, so many allegories, all kinds of convoluted and secret meanings. I was so confused; I had to re-write my sermon three times. Listen carefully to the lesson.
Finally, the Primary Lesson of This Parable (vs 16)
Remember, any parable will have one important lesson. The Lord himself teaches the lesson at the beginning, and then at the end in Verse 16: “So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”
Who is first that will become last, and who is last that will become first? Last and first in what? See, the whole context of the passage is how to attain eternal life, right? This parable continues the conversation that was begun when the rich young man came to Jesus to ask him what he had to do to get eternal life. We are still, obviously, talking about salvation, about the way of salvation, about how people get eternal life.
The Lord is showing the disciples, “Yes, you have a unique place in the kingdom as My apostles, and I promise to give a hundredfold for what you left, but the Lord is also balancing that with the truth of salvation,” so that they have no reason to boast about what they have done and somehow think they have attained this with their self-righteousness, but it is because of God saving them that they sacrificed those things. He shows salvation is not by human efforts or by keeping the law, but it is a free gift of God that comes by faith. Eternal life is a free gift of God. You don’t earn it. In this context:
There are a couple of layers to this parable:
- First layer – salvation by works or salvation by grace through faith. The Lord is here setting the true way of salvation over against the proud, self-righteous works theology of his contemporaries in the Jewish church. Notice none of them hired late made a contract for a wage. They saw the grace of the landowner to hire them at the last hour and just believed the landowner and went to work. It was grace that gave them the job, and it was faith that caused them to take it. Grace and faith gave them more than they expected. The one who made an agreement got what he made an agreement for.What should we conclude? If you want more than you contracted for, don’t contract. It is the same old issue of legalism versus grace, law or grace. We think we want legalism or justice, but grace is so much better.This parable is teaching what Paul so elaborately teaches throughout the epistles: eternal life is God’s gift, and never comes as merit for keeping the law. We have to stand in grace, not in law. This is the fatal delusion Jews had fallen into, which made them reject Jesus and also resent God’s grace to Gentiles, as they thought that they were more deserving of God’s favor than the Gentiles.Here, disciples were thinking, “Who can be saved if a rich man cannot be by his attainment? And see, we have left all and followed you…” Addressing them directly, they will be rewarded by His grace, but the eternal life they receive is nothing of their efforts or sacrifice. It is given to all as a free gift. If it is a free gift, it is not just for self-righteous Jews, but to everyone, even sinful Gentiles.
- Second layer of this parable is Jews and Gentiles. Who is first to get in the eternal life according to Jews? It is them, who by the self-righteous keeping of the law can attain eternal life, which is typified in the rich young man. Who is last, in their scale? It is the sinful Gentiles. This parable illustrates how God gives eternal life.God’s ways are often unsearchable to us, and even extremely contrary to our natural expectations. Moral persons are often left to perish in their sins, while the most immoral have been made illustrious monuments of divine mercy. So much outwardly moral, religious, exemplary youth who seem to be first in spiritual advantages became last to receive eternal life, but the left-hand thief who lived a sinful life received eternal life at the last hour. But none have any right to murmur against God, seeing that He may dispense His blessings as He will. There is mysterious sovereignty in God’s way of salvation.This mystery is very clearly seen in the gospel dispensation: that God rejected Jews who worked from the early morning of history to attain eternal life, but gave it to Gentiles who came at the last minute. Paul calls us in Ephesians 3: “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs.” The parable shows Jews should be first called into the vineyard, and many of them should come at the call; they have been working in the vineyard for 2000 years. But, at length, the gospel should be preached to the Gentiles at the last hour, and they should receive it and be admitted to equal privileges, blessings, and advantages with the Jews; they should be fellow-citizens with the saints, which the Jews, even those of them that believed, would be very much disgusted at, but without reason.They were first but made last, and Gentiles last, made first. Here, the early laborers who complain represent Jews who complain about the Lord’s way of giving eternal life, who have worked all day. The Lord gave a similar parable in Luke 15. In that parable also, someone complains about the unfairness—who? The elder brother. Remember, he said this young brother took his inheritance and squandered it, “but I continued faithfully to work on the family farm.” But when the wayward son returned and was greeted joyfully and treated generously by his father, the son who had stayed and worked resented his father’s generosity to a son who didn’t deserve such treatment. The introduction to the parable of the prodigal son, which we find in Luke 15:1-3 is this: “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathered around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”That is, the older brother is a picture of the self-righteous Jews—Jews who think that salvation is earned, that the favor of God comes to those who deserve it. Tax collectors and so-called sinners didn’t deserve it, but they did. Well, that is precisely the point here in Matthew 20. Who are the workers who complain and are resentful in the Lord’s parable of the workers in the vineyard? They are again the self-righteous. They are people like the rich young ruler who began this entire conversation with his self-confident assertion that he had kept all the commandments of God from his youth. We have it in Jesus as we have it in Paul: the great alternative, Salvation by works or salvation by grace.That is what this parable means. Does this mean the grumbling people also will get eternal life? No, that is not the point. It is not as though Jesus means to say that there are some who have earned their way to heaven – working a full day and getting their denarius. By the parable, He is showing these men’s wrong. No, He means to say that so long as you see salvation in those terms, so long as you don’t see yourself as among those hired late and paid in full, you will never understand salvation. As long as you don’t understand grace and faith, you will never understand Jesus.
Christ says this in so many different ways. He sarcastically called them righteous and said, “I didn’t come to call the righteous,” called them healthy who don’t need a doctor, 99 sheep not lost. Jesus’ teaching is that these people are not actually righteous before God; they only think that they are righteous, they think they have attained salvation by law.
People, it is very important for us to deeply understand and have the right thinking about the way of salvation. Do we realize what it means to be under grace and not under law? The only way to get eternal life is by grace through faith.
We all naturally fall into this fatal error, just like the Jews, thinking that we somehow attain salvation, and remain saved and justified, by our works, behavior, godly life, and conduct. We think, “We are so good and godly, God will accept us for that.” If this idea attacked the Galatian, Colossian, and Roman churches, how much more vulnerable are we? That was the Jewish mindset in Jesus’ day, and that is the mindset of the natural person still today; naturally, we all can fall into this by default. We can also fall into this trap. The fact that the Bible attacks that idea page after page is because it can often resurface in the minds of even us, the church people. It is all by grace.
One preacher said, “We feel a natural sympathy with the complaint of the men who had worked all day. It is frightening to realize that our identification with the first workers reveals we may be more ‘under law’ in our thinking and less ‘under grace’ than we realize.”
The reason the Lord had to tell this parable, have it recorded, and repeatedly explain the way of eternal life is because people do not naturally think about salvation the way God does. As long as we don’t think of salvation by grace as God wants us to understand, it will very seriously, profoundly, and dangerously affect our Christian life. Our thinking of merit, reward, worthiness, and our efforts instead of the free grace of God will not only diminish our dependence on God and hinder the supply of grace but will also subtly and secretly make us proud, and make us less grateful for the great salvation and less joyful. Is this the reason many of you are not grateful and joyful in the Christian life? Have you slipped into thinking about merit, deserving, or what you are doing or have done?
Learn from this parable. Be careful with verse 16: “So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.” If you think you are first because of your efforts and think God is obligated to you to pay the wage, if that is your thinking, you will be last, meaning you will not be saved. But those who are last, grateful that you are hired and serving Him, will be first.
There are two kinds of people in the world, and only two—then and now—representing two kinds of thinking: those who want their money and those who are just grateful that the owner should have given them a job. Translate those groups into Paul’s spiritual categories, and you have the same two groups: those who imagine that they are good enough for God—whose theory of salvation is their own works—and those who, by God’s grace, have come to realize that they are unworthy of the least of God’s gifts and who want to say and know to say to God but one thing: “God be merciful to me a sinner.”
Two spiritual states of mind are being described. The first state will never attain eternal life; the second will. Which is yours? What Jesus is after in his description of these workers is a spirit, a state of mind, an understanding of one’s utter dependence upon God’s generosity. The man who goes off to work confidently in the morning, sure that he will get his pay at the end of the day because, after all, he has made his arrangements with the vineyard owner, represents that vast company of human beings who believe—however they would put it—who really believe that they have it coming. Heaven, God’s acceptance, forgiveness of what small sins they think they may have committed—they have it coming. The man who gets a denarius for an hour’s work is the man who knows he didn’t earn this; it was a gift.
We have the rich young ruler who thought, in all seriousness, that he had kept all the commandments of God, and we have the poor workers who couldn’t land a job and weren’t finally hired until but one hour remained in the working day.
Salvation is by God’s generous mercy and not by our achievement. The man who works but an hour will get a lavish wage, but the man who counted on his wages ends up bitter and resentful. Poor beggar Lazarus will attain eternal life, enjoying utter bliss; the rich man went to hell. The thief living a sinful life at the last hour went to heaven, but all the Pharisees standing before that cross went to hell. The unworthy are raised to such heights, and those who thought themselves worthy are brought down to such depths. The unworthy are surprised and delighted to find themselves overwhelmed with such generosity. Those who think themselves worthy are resentful that such kindness was being shown to those less worthy than themselves.
Which is your spirit this morning? One test of what spirit you have is this: when you see some terrible sinners—horribly destroyed their lives, maybe an adulterer, or a drunkard—do you resent and think, “what horrible people,” or do you praise God with tears that it might be you who could be like that if God didn’t show you grace?
That is the mind, the spirit that Jesus is after. A man who knows that he got his position among the Master’s workmen by sheer grace. He owes his place among those who will be paid such a phenomenal sum, both in this world and the world to come, solely to his Master’s generosity. He knows better than he knows anything that his only hope for eternal life is God’s grace and mercy. And knowing that about himself, he will not, he does not, resent that mercy when it is lavished on others. Only the man who thinks far too highly of himself will stumble at God’s mercy to others.
It is this great reversal that is the lesson of this entire conversation: the first shall be last and the last first. This is the point from the Lord’s first encounter with the rich young man who wanted to know what he had to do to get eternal life to the end of this parable of the workers in the vineyard. Those who are lowly before God and hope in nothing but his grace and generosity are lifted to impossibly great heights. Those who in their pride and self-confidence think in terms of what they will earn cannot see God’s grace, cannot rejoice in it, and so miss the way to eternal life. The rich young man and the resentful workers are the same, and the world is full of such people. The Lord is saying to you and to me: “Don’t you be like them.” The way to get eternal life is the same way you get a generous day’s pay for a short hour of work: you don’t earn it; the Master is generous to you.
Secondary Lesson
Now, this parable has something very important to teach our church at this stage as we are looking at building men and serving Christ and the gospel.
God has called each member in the church to work in the vineyard, which is the kingdom. There is a lot of work for all of us. And our Lord calls us so that we can give ourselves fully over to that work. But we must understand that our service to Him is all a matter of grace—through and through; from beginning to end. If we don’t keep that in mind, we won’t have the right attitude about our work or about others whom He calls into His labors. If we don’t understand this principle:
On the one hand, we may end up looking upon ourselves as so unworthy of being in His service that we are hindered in doing the work He actually calls us to do. We may feel that we’ve come to believe on Him too late in life, or that we’ve spent too many years in sin to do anything of significance for the kingdom. Or we may fear that we’re too unskilled or untalented to do anything that would really count for much to Him. And this parable lets us know that, because He operates on the principle of grace rather than human merit, we can give ourselves faithfully to His service in whatever area He has called us—knowing that we work for a Master who does not measure the value of His laborers as the world does. He is overwhelmingly gracious to those who serve Him.
But on the other hand, we may end up looking so highly upon ourselves that we look at others as “unworthy.” We may begin to feel that we will deserve a higher place of honor in His kingdom because we have walked with Him longer, or because we repented of our sins sooner, or because we have labored more diligently, or that our efforts were more valuable in human terms than others. And this parable reminds us that, because our Lord operates on the principle of grace rather than human merit, we need to do our work for Him in the kingdom with a humble attitude.
Our Master evaluates His servants in a far different way than the people of this world do. He loves to shower His grace on those among His followers who are the most unworthy in this world’s eyes. When it comes to the work of His kingdom, “many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
And that’s how this parable helps us. Knowing some of the truths about the rewards for service in Jesus’ kingdom that we find in it will help us keep a proper attitude in our labors.
Thirdly, Lesson
Our Lord has a vineyard. The Lord Jesus has a work to be done. It’s the work of advancing His kingdom. It has been started long ago, but it carries on to this day. And if anyone should be called into that work in any capacity, it should be looked upon as an unspeakably great honor. They would be working for something that will be eternal and that will outlast everything else in this world. And what’s more, they would be working for a Master who will never fail to reward those who faithfully serve Him.
Have you been called to some particular work of service in the Lord Jesus’ kingdom? There is ample work to be done, and each one of us has something we can do. Have you been called to teach a Sunday School class? Have you been called to provide some repair or maintenance work in the church building? Have you been called to visit someone who is sick? Have you been called to provide transportation? Have you been called to provide hospitable services/cook and provide meals? Invite church members and new comers to home? Maybe some bringing new visitors to the church? Have you been called to share your faith in some particular setting? Do you see something in the work of the kingdom that needs to be done that you have the unique capacity to do, and are you feeling God’s call to get to work? Like this, many hundreds of services are all working in the vineyard.
If the Lord has called you into the service of His kingdom in any capacity, you need to think rightly about that call. You need to know that it is a great privilege to be called into His service. Rejoice in it, and rise up immediately and get to work! Give yourself fully to that thing the Lord has given you.
Do what He has called you to do. Don’t hold back, waiting for something better to do. Don’t put it off, looking for some other time. Do what He has called you to do now for His kingdom’s sake! Don’t waste your life and time; it is a great opportunity and honor to work in the vineyard. Don’t wait for something to be big. Whatever is small, do it for the gospel. Even a glass of water given will be rewarded.
Our Lord sovereignly calls whomever He chooses to work in His field. He not only chooses whoever He wishes, but also whenever He wishes. Some He calls in the early morning. Some He calls later in the morning, or at noontime, or in the early afternoon. And some He even calls at what almost seems like the last minute.
Some of us were called into His service in our early years—as little more than children. If so, we should be grateful that He spared us from wasting many years in sin. Others of us were called into His service while we were in the midst of the pursuit of a career, or while we were in the middle of making a name for ourselves, or perhaps, it was while we were in the midst of wasting our years in sin. If so, we should be grateful that He called us at a time in life when we still have strength to serve Him, and before we suffered more of a loss than we already had. And others of us were called into His service in the later years of life. Perhaps we may feel at that point that we’ve wasted too many years to be of any use at all. Our best years may be gone, and we may feel that whatever good there might have still been in us had been squandered away in sin and selfishness. And yet, if He has called us even then, He yet has something for us to do.
The point is this: We should never question His sovereign choice! Now, if He has called us at the 3rd hour, and we put Him off until the 9th hour, then shame on us! We must come when we are called! But if He has called you even at the eleventh hour of life, praise Him and go! Whenever He called you into His service, don’t question the fact that He called you when He called you! Go to the vineyard and work—knowing that He knows what He has planned for you to do, and that He will reward you rightfully for your faithful service.
That There Is a Day of Reward for All Those Who Serve (v. 8)
Now, everyone may have been called a little differently. Some were called early; some were called later; some were called near the end. But for all who were called to work, there was a final call to come and receive their wages. And this reminds us that, no matter what our particular call to service in His kingdom may be, our Lord will forget no one. He will faithfully reward all those who faithfully served Him. As the writer of Hebrews says: “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister” (Hebrews 6:10).
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 